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Updated: May 4, 2026

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Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
Published on: April 28, 2016
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Episodic future thinking as a predictor of children's prospective memory
Giovanna Nigro1, Maria A Brandimonte2, PierCarla Cicogna3
1Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, 81100 Caserta, Italy.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|December 17, 2013
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Memory is crucial for cognitive development.
- Understanding the interplay between different memory types is essential for child development research.
- Episodic future thinking and prospective memory are key executive functions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between retrospective memory, episodic future thinking, and event-based prospective memory in children.
- To examine how these memory functions develop and interact across preschool and early elementary ages.
Main Methods:
- 160 children aged 4-7 years participated.
- Tasks included recognition memory, episodic future thinking, and event-based prospective memory.
- Data analyzed using correlational analyses, ANOVAs, and logistic regression.
Main Results:
- All investigated memory abilities improve with age and are correlated.
- Episodic future thinking and prospective memory remained correlated even after controlling for age and retrospective memory.
- Age and episodic future thinking significantly predicted prospective memory performance independently of retrospective memory.
Conclusions:
- Childhood memory development is interconnected.
- Episodic future thinking is a significant independent predictor of prospective memory in children.
- Findings highlight the importance of future-oriented cognition in memory development.
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